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ellieb_reads's Reviews (186)
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
I read this one pretty slowly, which I’m grateful for because oof, it was trauma after trauma after trauma. The writing is spectacular and visceral, and I especially loved the prose when Demon was describing how he felt. I had a lot of “wow what a gorgeous way to put it” moments. Also, I think this really hit for me because I read an exceptional nonfiction on the Sackler family and the opioid crisis earlier this year and kept thinking about that context. I appreciated the conclusion, but would’ve liked a little more to read about the ending Kingsolver hints at (and maybe could’ve dropped one or two tragedy storylines to make it fit).
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
This was about 100 pages too long, and the main character reeeeally bothered me. So this was basically a recipe for DNF from the start, but it was a book club pick so I soldiered on. The “twist” was obvious for an agonizingly long time before the actual reveal, but I did find the internet sleuths concept interesting and I liked that many characters were morally gray and complicated. However, I think taking inspiration from the very real, very recent murders in Idaho was in poor taste. In the book, characters condemn the voyeuristic true crime media for treating a tragedy like a circus for their own profit, but isn’t that exactly what Winstead is doing here too? I don’t know, but it just felt uncomfy to me.
informative
“Why must we treat what are obviously systemic problems as failures of individual morality?”
Wowza. I knew very little about tuberculosis, and this taught me so much in such a unique way. Green includes a lot of science and statistics and history, but his storytelling is what will make this stick with me for a while. There were parts where I wanted him to go a bit deeper, but I think this was an accessible yet powerful call to action that I hope will have a positive impact.
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
I enjoyed this one! I thought the premise was fun, even if a little silly at times. Jane can be kind of irritating, but I also thought she was a compelling portrait of a woman who is feeling lost in marriage and motherhood and making some irrational decisions because of that. The writing was strong, and I found lots of scenes quite funny. A few aspects didn’t land for me, namely the entire police storyline and the abrupt ending with no consequences. But in general I thought it was a good, light read!
Haven’t read anything from Moyes since Me Before You almost 10 years ago and was excited to give this a try. But one-fourth of the way in, I’m just so terribly bored. If I’m going to commit to 450+ pages, I need to be hooked at this point. Maybe I’ll give it another try later on.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
I quite enjoyed this! The writing was solid, and the concept was unique. There were a lot of POVs, but they were well-organized so as to not be confusing. I loved the queer romance and representation, and nearly all the characters were women. My biggest gripe was that the ending tied up too neatly. We didn’t get to see the details of the reconciliations, and I think that would’ve made for some really interesting pages and a more complete ending. I’ve also come to realize that the miscommunication trope in romances is super frustrating to me as a reader, and that’s a big feature here. But I still thought it was a good character-driven story and a quick read!
I really love Kelsey McKinney and her podcast Normal Gossip, but unfortunately I didn’t love this book. I’ll say first that this is not what I expected, which was a collection of gossips like the podcast. Instead, it’s part memoir, part sociology/history/psychology of gossip. Some chapters were really great, well-researched and contextualized with fun pop culture references. Others just fell a little flat for me, but weren’t bad. One chapter (Picasso) bothered me so much I was actually gritting my teeth; in my opinion, it seriously contradicted the thesis of the book, and it felt very pretentious and condescending (honestly a bit of a surprise from the author). I was a little thrown by the organization of the book as well, which felt pretty random. So this one was a bit of a disappointment for me, but I still love McKinney and am eager to see her next podcast project.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
There was so much potential in the setting and the premise, and I thought each of the three women could have been really compelling characters. But I felt that the story didn’t take advantage of those features at all. The book is set in the 1950s, but the dialogue and some other minor details didn’t really fit. The characters’ backstories were presented as plot twists when there was really no suspense. The book isn’t bad, but I found it kind of boring and meandering. Some great concepts here, but they just didn’t come together in a way that packed a punch.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
This one is really difficult to rate/review. Adichie’s writing is exceptional. Her prose is beautiful and visceral, and some passages truly took my breath away. I wrote down multiple quotes that I really loved. But if I’m being honest, I did not enjoy reading this. The book tells the connected stories of four women, three of whom are super wealthy and another who is one of the three’s housekeeper. Two of them are downright insufferable and kind of cruel. One is kind but infuriatingly naive. For a book about four women, so much of their stories focused on relationships with men and their desire to get married and have children. And that’s just not a book I’m eager to read. I expected a novel about friendships between women, but the characters were mostly mean to each other and men were mean to them—and that didn’t make for a particularly pleasant read. The writing is almost certainly 5 stars, but my enjoyment was probably no more than 3. So I’m averaging with 4, I guess.
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
This was not quite what I expected, but I loved what it turned out to be. It’s a little outrageous, but if you approach the book as a satire more than a thriller, those moments are “laugh out loud” funny rather than “eye roll” unrealistic. The book also has a lot of poignant reflections on queerness and loneliness and the pressure of a career in a field like writing. Aleman is definitely weaving together a few different genres here, but the book doesn’t feel disjointed to me. The main character’s decision-making is sometimes incredibly frustrating, but he’s a mess, that’s the point! I Might Be In Trouble is dark, hilarious, suspenseful, and surprisingly heartfelt—a wild ride that I really enjoyed.